Why I Won't Do Another Kickstarter Campaign

Awesome write-up. Should probably be required reading for anyone planning a HW based Kickstarter.

It wasn't until I got to do a startup where I participated in the entire process of concept to production for a reasonably complex hardware system (an internet appliance) that I really appreciated just how many moving parts there are in building something and how many ways that process burns money. One of the most painful things was allowing our UL Lab certification burn up a perfectly good unit on purpose. I really wanted them to use a test board inside that we already knew was dead (and it had rework on it besides) but they were adamant, the 'as shipped' configuration had to be burned to a crisp. Ouch.